Bits and pieces is what I have. I have never tried to comprehend the whole of myself at once.I know it will take time. In my journey towards self realization- be a witness and share your thoughts.
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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Pursuit of Happiness: Learning

Everyone has a certain idea of how they want to achieve what they consider happiness. Mine includes spending a major chunk of my life in a T-shirt and glasses reading, learning and marveling.

When I was in school as a kid, I learned mostly to score the highest, and make my mother happy- who most of the times was very difficult to please. If I scored 98, she would ask why it wasn’t a 100/100. In my MBA, when there was scope for extra credit I made sure I did that too ; thus, at times, I scored above 100% in certain sections. But the purpose wasn’t just to please my parents anymore. I found joy in learning my subject.

Some people take up Liberal Arts, some people prefer learning machine languages, I majored in Marketing and it fascinated me. It is a good time to be a marketer. It has never been easier to listen and communicate to your customers, innovate and evolve accordingly. Your judgment can be more informed and your brand message more consistent if you are just willing to pay attention.

When you are not studying just to complete with the next best, scores became exceptionally good as a by-product. Learning for the sake of learning is the greatest reward of all- and it means better retention too.

The greatest fear when I was leaving Boston (B-school) was that I might not get enough structured learning until I decided to enroll in a program again. The first thing I did after I moved to West Coast was to get a library card- the cheapest and most convenient way to get access to bigger resources than I can personally afford or maintain. I feel happy to visit my library to return a book or movie I have thoroughly enjoyed and browse for more things that might interest me.

Though I have taught myself a couple of things with steep learning curves(or at least long learning curves) in recent years (I'm fairly decent in Photoshop and I mean beyond masking and layering, learning Illustrator now), I found that more structured learning was required. I took up Statistics (for Managers), something I had in my undergrads and hence got waived in my Masters. I religiously followed video lectures on Youtube by an excellent UCB professor, took notes at least 1-2 hours each day. My brother seemed surprised- but I told him that I did it because I enjoyed it, and I had more than enough spare time to learn something I had began to forget. Couple of days later, he asked me about a case of forecasting using Regression model, which I enjoyed discussing with him.

Now, I have signed up for couple of courses in Coursera on Finance, Innovation, Strategy and Disruptive technologies. I signed up for another class archive because it is over already. My sessions begin on 28th Jan. I must say I am happy, and I hope to learn well again.

I know Udacity, Udemy and Skillshare are similar resources. MIT Open courseware was something I used as a management student to complement my classroom learning. Youtube has some good lecture videos too. Send me a query if you require help to explore these further. Like many, I too believe that education should be free for all. You don't need to be buried in a heavy load of student loan to be able to afford quality education; it is what you do with what you have learned that should matter, not the price you paid for it.

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About Me

Marketing and Communications Consultant, MBA (Marketing). My primary interest and secondary career is writing. There are two things I have learned about life - 1. It's going to be different tomorrow. 2. Anything not worth doing with passion is not worth doing at all.
Register your presence if you happen to fly by my sky. Both corsages and brickbats are welcome.You can also reach me at thevariegatedsky@gmail.com